Bale brilliance seals cup glory for Real

Barcelona 1 Real Madrid 2

Madrid had looked well on their way to victory after Angel Di Maria’s opener, but Marc Bartra headed a surprise equaliser with 20 minutes left. It seemed we were set for extra-time, but Bale had other ideas, sprinting half the pitch before calmly finishing from a tight angle to ensure that it was Blancos captain Iker Casillas who received the trophy from Spain’s King Juan Carlos I afterwards.

Cristiano Ronaldo was missing from the Madrid line-up with an injury, but young Barcelona centre-back Bartra was surprisingly declared fit to start. Although Blancos coach Carlo Ancelotti had claimed pre-game he would look to out-football their opponents, his tactics here were not that different to 2011, when Jose Mourinho’s side out-battled Barca to win the trophy.